Fwd: Untying The Bonds

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Hare Krsna One who is not motivated by false ego, whose intelligence is not entangled, though he kills men in this world, is not the slayer. Nor is he bound by his actions. GITA 18:17 In this verse the Lord informs Arjuna that the desire not to fight arises from false ego. Arjuna thought himself to be the doer of action, but he did not consider the supreme sanction within and without. If one does not know that a supersanction is there, why should he act? But one who knows the instrument of work, himself as the worker, and the Supreme Lord as the supreme sanctioner, is perfect in doing everything. Such a person is never in illusion. Personal activity and responsibility arise from false ego and godlessness, or a lack of Krsna

consciousness. Anyone who is acting in Krsna consciousness under the direction of the Supersoul or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even though killing, does not kill. Nor is he ever affected with the reaction of such killing. When a soldier kills under the command of a superior officer, he is not subject to be judged. But if a soldier kills on his own personal account, then he is certainly judged by a court of law. SRILA PRABHUPADA Capil Sookdeo FridayLESSON 54Untying The Bonds The three malas that bind us are: maya, the ever-perpetuating dance of creation, preservation and dissolution; karma (our prarabdha karma, brought

with us to face in this life, along with the karma we are creating now and will create in the future); and anava, the ego, ignorance or sense of separateness. Maya can be understood, seen through and adjusted to through the heart-chakra powers of cognition, contentment and compassion. Karmas can be harnessed through regular forms of disciplinary practices of body, mind and emotions, and the understanding of the law of karma itself as a force that is sent out through thought, feeling and action and most often returns to us through other peoples' thought, feeling and action. But it is the anava mala, the mala of personal ego, that is the binding chain which cannot be so easily dealt with. It is the last to go. It is only at the point of death, before the greatest mahasamadhi of the greatest rishi, that the anava mala chain is finally broken. If we compare this anava mala, personal

ego, to an actual mala, a string of rudraksha beads, the purpose on the path at this stage, of mati, is to begin eliminating the beads, making the chain shorter and shorter. The mala should be getting shorter and shorter rather than our adding beads to it so that it gets longer and longer. A warning: if the anava mala -- symbolically a garland of rudraksha beads -- has thirty-six beads and it steadily grows to 1,008 because of practices and the adulation connected with them within the psychic realms of the pseudoscience of parapsychology -- such as bending spoons, telepathy, channeling and ectoplasmic manifestations -- this 1,008 strand of rudraksha beads could become so heavy, so dangerous to the wearer, that eventually he would trip and fall on his nose. The wise say, "Pride goes before a fall." And the still wiser know that "spiritual pride is the most difficult pride to deal with, to eliminate, to rise above in a

lifetime." The spiritually proud never open themselves to a satguru. The mystically humble do. Mati has also been interpreted as "good intellect, acute intelligence, a mind directed toward right knowledge, or Vedic knowledge." Good intellect, in the context of a Hindu seer, would be right knowledge based on siddhanta shravana, scriptural study. Acute intelligence, of course, means "see-through" or panoramic intelligence which cognizes the entire picture rather than only being aware of one of its parts. "A mind directed toward right knowledge or Vedic knowledge" refers to the intellect developed through siddhanta shravana. The study of the Vedas and other scriptures purifies the intellect, as belief creates attitude, and attitude creates action. An intellect based on truths of the Sanatana Dharma is intelligent to the divine laws of the universe and harnessed into fulfilling them as a part of it. To this end, all the prarabdha

karmas of this life and the action-reaction conglomerates formed in this life are directed. The intellect, like the emotions, is a force, disciplined or undisciplined, propelled by right knowledge or wrong knowledge. It, of itself, processes, logically or illogically, both kinds of knowledge or their mix. What harnesses the intellect is siddhanta shravana, study of the teachings and listening to the wise of an established, traditional lineage that has stood the test of time, ravage and all attempts at conversion. The intellect is a neutral tool which can be used for bad or for good purposes. But unlike the emotions, which are warm, and also neutral, the intellect is cold. It is the fire of the kundalini force -- impregnating the intellect, purifying it, burning out the ignorance of wrong concepts, thought forms, beliefs, connected attitudes, causing an aversion to certain actions -- that forges the purified intellect and spiritual will of

cognition, known as mati. Mati, in summary, is the harnessing of the intellect by the soul to live a spiritual life. Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debatein the Answers Food Drink Q&A.

Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debatein the Answers Food Drink Q&A.